Anath

Mythic, worshipped throughout the Levant by at least the mid-third millennium B.C.E.

Anath (Anat) was worshipped by the Canaanites, the peoples of ancient Israel, as a goddess of love and warfare. She was the mother of Shamgar, who freed the Hebrews from Philistine oppression by orchestrating an uprising. Her cult spread through the eastern Mediterranean region, including Ugarit (in Syria), where she was the consort of Baal, and she was worshipped in Egypt in the Hebrew temple of Elephantine. Anath’s popularity persisted into Christian times.